Week Three: Third Sunday of Advent: Rural Reunions

It was 5:30 pm on Thursday evening. The White Pigeon Library was having its annual Christmas Open House. The tree was decorated and three young ladies wearing white chef’s coats circulated trays of oven warm tiny quiches and chocolate delights.

A young man played “My soul is filled with joy” on a quiet keyboard. A raffle fundraiser was under way. About thirty people or so dipped into cheese balls and pineapple tidbits, sat, talked and listened and browsed books.

It had been a reflective rural day for me. I spent all morning in my nightgown sitting by the wood stove at home and working on my sermon for Sunday. I made a few phone calls, to the church treasurer and chair and a ministry mentee.

Then I drove 10 miles south to Goshen to meet with Kathy (yes, she is also the church treasurer) and Lorna for lunch at the new delicatessen kitty corner from the Electric Brew on Main Street. Following a leisurely lunch of salmon chowder, Kathy and I brainstormed at the Brew about January worship on the theme of Sabbath.

From Goshen I drove 21 miles to White Pigeon, Michigan for the open house. An hour later I would drive 16 miles home. Why?

Well, as it turned out, eleven of those thirty people at the White Pigeon Library Christmas Open House were members of my far flung rural congregation, Florence Church of the Brethren Mennonite.

The musicians were Ben Nofsinger (keyboard) followed by the Bair Lane Christmas Band of Luke Nofsinger and Solomon Fenton Miller (guitar and mandolin). They had driven down from Marcellus, 21 miles away. Not only that, but Marcellus had received eight inches of snow the night before and the snow was still coming down when the musicians, along with Ben and Luke’s father, Gary, set out.

And how did they get invited to play? One of the librarian’s is Judy Broadworth, also a member of Florence. It was her “Just for Girls” club that was hosting this event and serving the tantalizing tidbits.

Soon after I arrived came another carload from Marcellus: mothers of musicians, Christine Nofsinger and Kathy Fenton-Miller, and Luke’s one year old son, Micah.

Are you counting? The last two Florencians to arrive, to make the total eleven, were Jan and Jerry Warstler who had driven 12 miles from Sturgis to join the party. As recent retirees and well know community volunteers in Sturgis, they support Judy in her work as an artist and teacher in the Open Door Gallery. And in turn they have called upon volunteers from Florence to help with dry wall and mudding in the gallery renovation a few years back. Here they are to connect with Judy, delighted to see all of us.

Rural vibrancy looks like this. We go the distance to make connections.

We love our kids. We support them in the arts, in sports, in discovering Christmas with Micah and the next generation. We thrill in seeing them share their gifts with the world.

We love each other. We support our links to our local communities. Chris, who is the librarian in Marcellus could be seen later in the evening comparing notes with Judy about library programming. I had no idea of Judy’s program that connected young teen girls with women working in a variety of professions. In a county with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the state, this is brilliant! I also learned that Micah’s mom, Daniela Zehr, was the invited guest for the next meeting of “Just for Girls” with the title, “So you think you can dance…” Daniela is a sexy salsa dancer who also happens to be at Goshen College training to be a nurse. Awesome model for girls to meet!

We love food.

We love parties and celebrations to keep our spirits bright as we go home in the deep dark to our warm, quiet rural homes on county roads and small town lanes.

So, does this warrant all this driving, all this gas, all this time? Heck, at this very moment the U.N. Climate Change meeting it taking place in Copenhagen.

Hmmm…in God’s economy I am not sure, but I think perhaps the answer is YES. I just know that as I was leaving the White Pigeon Library Sol and Luke were playing “What child is this” and an older White Pigeon couple was having the most delightful evening of their week. I know that when Florence friends come to worship this Sunday we will feel a different kind of joy and connection and understanding of each other, of our gifts and passions, of our scattered rural communities and our hopes for them.

I know that this gathering on a cold and bitterly windy night feeds my soul and sparks love and service. It is good.

Observations:

Marcellus to White Pigeon 21 miles

Sturgis to White Pigeon 12 miles

Goshen, IN to White Pigeon 21 miles

White Pigeon to home 16 miles

Florence Church to White Pigeon 6 miles